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must be willing to take our eyes off ourselves and see how we might help someone else. An encouraging word goes far, friends! A genuine "thank you so much for the hard work" can change ones day for the better. A "you look great today" can lift the spirit. An "I see God working in your life" or "you truly are gifted at..." can so help lighten the load of another and cheer them up to keep going. May I encourage you to be an "up person"? What I mean by “up” is, look for ways to cheer others up! This is not pop psychology. This is not just a thing for natural encouragers.
This is a call for all of us. Ephesians 4:29 puts it this way, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." A big reason we are supposed to gather together as a church is to encourage one another; "And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of His coming back again is drawing near" (Hebrews 10:25).
So my friends, let us be "up people" for the glory of God!
You will have times you need to be lifted up and without a doubt, family, friends, and strangers all around you need to be lifted up. We should do it because we're called to. We should do it because Jesus was lifted up on the cross for our sins so we could be lifted up from death and made alive in Christ! (Colossians 2:13-14)
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In January 2001 Lori Joseph and Bob Laird wrote an article in USA Today called Americans Working Too Hard. The authors of the article refer to a Hilton Generational Time survey of 1,220 workers that revealed these findings:
-need more fun: 68%
-need a long vacation: 67%
-often feel stressed: 66%
-feel time is crunched: 60%
-want less work, more play: 51%
-feel pressured to succeed: 49%
-feel overwhelmed: 48%
When I read this survey I am reminded that many people everyday are struggling with stress and anxiety. I am reminded that so many people, including Christians, are weighed down.
Proverbs 12:25 says, "Worry weighs a person down; an encouraging word cheers a person up." People everywhere struggle with worry. This probably is not a surprise to you. We all have experienced it. Do you know that every day you have an opportunity to cheer someone up?
Do you realize that God wants to use you to offer hope daily to the weighed down person? It takes us looking, being aware of others. We
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